What is Assyriology?

Assyriology is the study of the languages, history, and culture of the people who used the ancient writing system called cuneiform. Cuneiform was used primarily in an area called the Near East, centred on Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and eastern Syria) where cuneiform was invented, but including the Northern Levant (Western Syria and Lebanon), parts of Anatolia, and western Iran. The sources for Assyriology are all archaeological, and include both inscribed and uninscribed objects. Most Assyriologists focus on the rich textual record from the ancient Near East, and specialise in either the study of language, literature, or history of the ancient Near East.

Assyriology began as an academic discipline with the recovery of the monuments of ancient Assyria, and the decipherment of cuneiform, in the middle of the 19th century. Large numbers of archaeological objects, including texts, were brought to museums in Europe and later the US, following the early excavations of Nineveh, Kalhu, Babylon, Girsu, Assur and so forth. Today Assyriology is studied in universities across the globe, both as an undergraduate and a graduate subject, and knowledge from the ancient Near East informs students of numerous other disciplines such as the History of Science, Archaeology, Classics, Biblical studies and more.